RESOURCES FOR CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION, JUNE 21

Book to read: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Jeana Owens says, “This book is about the prison system, but it shows that racism never ended; it just changed forms to cloak itself and make it more socially acceptable. This book showed me the difference between personal racism and systemic racism--and why we can never end it unless we address both.” 

Social media account to follow: Wil Gafney on Twitter, @wilgafney. This professor of Hebrew Bible (at Brite Div. School, at TCU), womanist scholar, and Episcopal priest is “Exhausted and Enraged” (as her Twitter handle declares). She’s not gentle in her assessments of white supremacy and white fragility – she will hurt your white feelings, Katie Hays assures you – and she is a generous re-tweeter who opens up the wide world of Black Twitter to all who care to listen and learn.

Podcast to subscribe to: “1619 Project” by Nikole Hannah-Jones. Mike Perry says, “Only six episodes but packs a powerful punch. It won a Pulitzer Prize for its exploration of racism from the very beginning in America at the arrival of the first transport ship of enslaved Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.” 

Movie or TV to watch: “13th,” Netflix documentary. Jenna Del Cristo recommends this 2016 doc by Ava DuVernay, which is titled for the 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution. The 13th amendment ended slavery “except as a punishment for conviction of a crime” – thus leading to the continued enslavement of Black lives by the U.S. criminal justice system and the school-to-prison pipeline. It’s available on YouTube for free, for now.

Cause to donate to: Equal Justice Initiative. Paul Demer says, “This organization is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the U.S., to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. You can learn more by reading Just Mercy by EJI founder Bryan Stevenson, or watching the movie (free this month on Netflix).”

Playlist or artist to listen to: Gary Clark Jr’s 2019 album This Land. DJ Boatright recommended the video for the title song first, confessing his own “ugly tears” while watching. The Austin musician fuses blues, rock, soul, and hip-hop. Here’s his NPR Tiny Desk concert.

Question or topic for white people to discuss IRL with white friends and family members: For white relations who lived through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, what was their experience like? Cameron Spivey has been having conversations with his grandmother about her experience of living through the 1960s. Does she remember the desegregation of water fountains, restaurants, schools, etc.? How were the protests shown in the media then? Did her church talk about it? What were her own interactions with Black people like? How does she think about that time now, 60 years later? Is there anything she wishes she had done differently?